By Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland
January 16, 2006

There has never been a greater need to protect the nation’s infrastructure. The threat of terrorism, natural disaster, and pandemic disease, coupled with aging municipal assets and growing citizen demands, has made implementation of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) a high priority for the Federal Government. Cities that fail to comply in 2006 risk losing future federal preparedness funding. Fortunately, by taking advantage of the information technology and tools required to comply, municipal governments can realize more efficient, effective management – even when there is no emergency. EMA, a U.S. Conference of Mayors Corporate Partner, is working with cities to realize those objectives.

The goal of NIMS is to facilitate interoperability and mutual aid between emergency response organizations. In other words, multiple agencies have to be able to work together and talk to each other during a crisis. As a result, the public and private sectors are collaborating like never before in the assessment, preparedness, prevention, detection, response, and recovery from natural and man-made events. NIMS trace its roots to California wildfire response planning in the 1970s. It is the nation’s first standardized management plan that successfully creates a common framework for incident management, and a unified chain of command for federal, state, and local lines of government during incident response.

EMA has played a key role in a major test project ongoing in Honolulu, HI, aimed at evacuation planning and critical infrastructure protection. Working jointly with the Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA), the Oahu Civil Defense Agency, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the pilot is designed to break down the communication and information'sharing barriers between multiple stakeholders (public and private) within a defined geographic region. By sharing information on compatible platforms, organizations ranging from emergency management to the local power company can respond more effectively, potentially saving lives and assets.

With the creation of NIMS, DHS is now making federal preparedness grants contingent on compliance in 2006. “There are ways that cities can use these federal grants, achieve NIMS compliance, and manage more effectively, even when there is no emergency,” said Judith Cascio, who leads EMA’s Public Sector practice. “The key is to understand how to make the information technology, internal and external practices, and people work together.”

Information management, analysis, transfer, and communication are vital to the deployment and operation of NIMS. DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) have demonstrated in joint emergency response exercises that 50 agencies can successfully plan and respond to such incidents through the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), mapping, spatial technology, and information management. GIS is an essential tool used by Incident Commanders (ICs), command staff, and support personnel to effectively manage resources and forge a coordinated response.

“When disaster strikes there isn’t time to figure out the ground rules on how all these agencies should work together,” Cascio said. “The time to put the technology and protocols in place is right now.”

For more information about our Conference of Mayors Platinum Partner, EMA, Inc. contact Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland at 301-450-2521 or send e-mail to kweyland@usmayors.org.